


The Captain's Hand

by lucelafonde



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, New World (One Piece), Post-Fishman Island, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12034326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucelafonde/pseuds/lucelafonde
Summary: After the time skip, Luffy's crew runs into the Kuja Pirates.Zoro meets the "other woman."





	The Captain's Hand

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a light-hearted story about Zoro and Boa fighting over Luffy in increasingly petty and ridiculous ways. 
> 
> This is not that story.

The thing is, Zoro thinks, they never said they were exclusive. Sure, he _assumed_ , but… They never actually _said_ , so it’s not like it’s not _fine._ Maybe they’re not exclusive, but so what? It doesn’t change anything, right? _Right?_ They’re still them and they’re still… well, whatever it is they are, and it’s fine. Really. Because they never actually _said_ —

Zoro flinches when Boa’s ample bosom comes dangerously close to smothering Luffy’s face. It’s so… _big_. It’s ridiculous, and it would only get in the way in a fight. Impractical, to say the least, and aesthetically unappealing. Right?

He swallows, watching through his one good eye as the Pirate Empress elatedly tells Luffy something about her tribe. It’s all just _blabla_ to him, so he doesn’t even try to follow the conversation, but he does keep an eye on her even more closely for it. That should say something, because he only has the one to use now and it’s usually trained on the object of her affection.

“I’m so glad we ran into you!” he hears her say for the third time now since their ships crossed paths, and he can’t help but roll that one eye of his. Of course she’s glad. They can all see she’s glad, the way she’s hanging on Luffy’s every word and gesture, even when he’s doing nothing but stuff his greedy mouth with meat. There’s no need to mention it— _again_ —really, but she does it anyway, and it just rubs him the wrong way.

Everything she does rubs him the wrong way.

The way she approached Luffy like a blushing bride, for one thing, how her eyes had started to sparkle and her cheeks turned pink. How she stammered like a helpless maiden, never quite meeting their captain’s eyes. And now, with most of her crew on their ship mingling with the others, how she’s monopolising Luffy and drawing his attention to herself only while the rest of his crew is distracted by her girls.

Not Zoro, though. He’s never been distracted by a girl before, and he certainly isn’t going to start breaking that streak now. Not that anything could ever possibly distract him from Luffy to begin with.

“I’m glad I got to see you again!” Luffy himself proclaims, stuffing a massive piece of ham into his mouth. “I’ve been meaning to thank you for getting me back to my crew!”

Zoro clenches his teeth at the words. He hates that he has to begrudgingly admit he too is grateful for that. Luffy told him some of the things that happened to him during their two years apart, and the swordsman knows that Luffy spent time on Amazon Lily. He knows that Boa Hancock was a vital part in his escape and recovery. He knows that he owes her big time for all she did for his captain.

All of that pisses him off.

She throws her hair back and glares at him provokingly. “Do you have something to say to me, swordsman? Or are you just blinded by my beauty?”

Zoro thinks if anything, he’ll be blinded by her giant breasts if they ever happen to point his way, but he doesn’t say it. Instead he smirks and replies, “Yeah, actually. I’ve been meaning to thank you as well. So. Thanks.”

“I don’t recall ever doing anything for _you_.”

The way she says it, he might as well have been a cockroach asking for permission to walk beneath her feet, but it doesn’t deter him. His will is stronger than that, and he knows to pick his battles. He’s not actually that easy to provoke.

“You saved our captain. That’s good enough for me.”

She sniffs at him, turning her head away. “I didn’t do it for you.” Then she faces Luffy again, an adoring look in her eyes as she sighs, “I only did it for Luffy.”

“Yeah, thanks,” the man says and gobbles up another piece of meat like it’s nothing. This is a feast, after all, in honour of Sanji seeing a lot of gorgeous women at once, so the cook has gone all out, and because he’s in disturbingly good spirits, the rest of them get to eat as much as they want as well. In fact, Zoro thinks the idiot cook came suspiciously close to worshipping Luffy like a god when the captain invited all the amazons onto their ship. He’s never seen that much respect for Luffy in the man’s eyes.

“ _Anything for you, my love.”_ Boa practically melts on her seat, turning her blushing face away as she composes herself.

This is really fucking weird. Isn’t she, like, supposed to be a big deal?

“Tch.”

He was too loud, apparently, because the Pirate Empress whips around to glare at him once more, earning herself a pretty nasty look herself. Luffy, as per usual, is entirely oblivious.

“How is everyone back at the island?”

“You even care about such lowly creatures as them! You are truly amazing, my love!”

Zoro is too weirded out to keep watching. He just… he thought he could do it, but clearly he underestimated Boa Hancock’s infatuation with his captain. His—

“I’m gonna go get some fresh air.”

Normally, he’d exchange a look with Luffy before he leaves. Normally, there’d be an unspoken understanding between them. Normally, Luffy would see his look and hear “I’ve had enough.” Normally, things would be different. But this isn’t normal. None of it is.

He leaves the table, ignores Luffy’s confused “But we’re outside” and walks away from the Sunny’s grassy deck they’d fitted for a banquet. In times like these, there’s really only one place he wants to be at, and the captain should know. He should, but today, Zoro isn’t really sure about anything anymore.

He climbs to the crow’s nest and considers his weights there for a moment. He doesn’t feel like training, but maybe he’d feel better releasing some of that nervous energy growing in his body. Maybe if he hits something, all those annoying thoughts will go away. Maybe he can beat them out.

“Dammit.” He curses and punches the nearest wall. He’s not usually like this. He’s not like that idiot cook. He’s not emotional, he’s not jealous, he’s not _stupid._ So why does he feel like this? Why does he act like this?

He’s never had a problem like it before. He’s never minded if a girl talked to Luffy. Or a guy. He’s never minded if someone got up close or was oozing with gratitude for his captain. It’s never been a problem. He trusts Luffy, and it’s never been an issue he’s had to concern himself with, really. Luffy’s eyes only see one thing, after all, and that’s his one and only goal: to become King of the Pirates. That kid doesn’t care about anything other than that. Zoro knows that. Zoro knows that, so there’s no reason to be jealous.

There isn’t.

His fingers curl into a fist and he takes a deep breath to settle his mind.

Luffy is magnetic in a way that no one else is. He’s special. Zoro has known that since he showed up in a Navy courtyard and asked a complete stranger to join his non-existent pirate crew. He’s known that before anyone else. He was the first. He’ll always have been the first. No one can take this from him. No matter what happens, no matter how many people they meet, no matter how much Luffy dazzles them, this will always be true: he was the first. The first person to _ever_ follow this man. And he’ll follow him to the end of the world itself, come hell or high water. He’s ready for it.

He’s the first. But he can’t be the only. With a spirit like that, it’s impossible. Luffy attracts others wherever he goes, inspires them above and beyond their capabilities, changes lives left, right, and centre with no regard for the consequences. He doesn’t know what it’s like to follow a man like that. To see someone like that and compare yourself to them. To always feel like you’ll never have what he has, that most breathtaking and fearsome of all Luffy’s qualities, of which there are many: a pure heart that cannot be shaken, bent, or broken. It cannot be tainted. It cannot be made to stray from its course. Luffy has one goal, and one goal alone, and he pursues it relentlessly. Nothing and no one can keep him from it. Nothing and no one will ever derail that plan or make it change.

Zoro admires that more than anything: the conviction that drives Luffy and pushes him to accomplish inhuman feats even _he_ struggles to keep up with. The conviction that comes from nowhere but his own willpower. He’s beholden to no one. His fate is tied to nothing but himself.

Zoro used to think that he was like that. He knows better now. His will is strong, but it is nothing compared to that of his captain. His dream is important, but it is not the _most_ important thing in the world. Not anymore. Because Zoro, he knows, is not like Luffy. He’s not a king. He’s not a leader. He’s a follower. He follows, and if anyone had ever told him that four years ago, he would have cut them for it, but it’s true.

He’d follow that idiot kid stuffing his face until he’ll turn into a giant rubber balloon downstairs to hell itself—and beyond that, if there is a beyond.

It scares him, how devoted he’s become to this one boy. That’s why he can’t stand to look at Boa. That’s why seeing her advances makes his hairs stand on edge. That’s why witnessing someone proposition Luffy makes his heart freeze in his chest and flattens his lungs. Because the most important thing to him is Luffy, but it doesn’t work the other way around. If Luffy loses him, he’ll be hurt, but he’ll move on. If Zoro loses Luffy, it will be the same for him as dying. Worse, because at least if he dies, he won’t have to live through losing his captain. He’ll die thinking that Luffy will make it, accomplish his dream, rule the seas, and shake up the World Government. He won’t have to live in a world—won’t have to live a life—without Luffy.

“I know it’s stupid,” he says, eyes closed and head pressed against his fist on the wall. “But I can’t turn it off.”

“Does it bother you?”

Zoro snorts. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Luffy takes a step towards him. Zoro can feel his presence at his back, but he doesn’t know what face to make yet. What is he expecting? What does he want to see? How much should he let on?

“What are you thinking?”

Zoro smirks a little despite himself and opens his eye. “What, you don’t know?”

“Stupid stuff,” declares Luffy, making him laugh.

“I guess so.”

Rubber fingers poke his side, and Zoro takes one last deep breath before turning around to face Luffy, still standing a few metres away.

“You done eating?”

Luffy smiles and produces a large piece of ham from one pocket and a bottle of sake from another. “Wasn’t any fun without you.”

“Idiot.”

He smiles and approaches his captain, ruffling his hair before taking the bottle and sitting on the bench running along the edge of the room.

“C’mere.”

“Sure. Shishishi.” Luffy giggles and falls down next to him, his shoulder casually brushing against Zoro’s.

_Does he do it on purpose?_ Zoro wonders. _Or is he really just that dense?_

Shaking his head, he sighs and puts an arm around the boy, pressing him closely against his side.

“Idiot.”

“You already called me that,” Luffy says cheekily and bites off a piece of his meat. “You must be really worried.”

“Shut up.”

“‘k.”

Zoro exhales and considers his sake. “It’s just… You said she wanted to marry you, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Doesn’t it… bother you?”

Luffy swallows. “Does what bother me?”

“Just… it doesn’t? That she wants to marry you and she’s here now? On our ship?”

The captain’s head tilts questioningly to the side. Obviously, he doesn’t understand anything at all. Zoro isn’t very good at explaining either, so what is he supposed to do?

“She’s my friend.”

“I know that.” Zoro sighs. Pinches the bridge of his nose. “Luffy…”

“Hmm?”

“Are we… I mean… Do you want to be… maybe. Y’know…” Zoro awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks flush. He’s never really… had to say anything before. He and Luffy just kinda happened, and it was fine for him. He’s not a big talker, never has been, and he always thought he and Luffy understood each other without words anyway. Talking’s just unnecessary between them.

That’s what he thought. But now he thinks maybe they _should have_ talked about some things. A few of them at least. Not all of it, maybe, but _some_ things…

“What?”

He looks so blissfully ignorant, Zoro has no choice but to come right out and say it. The face of complete innocence switches a flip inside him and makes it all pour out, but what else is new? Luffy has that effect on people. Why should he be any different? If anything, he’s _more_ susceptible to the power of his captain than others.

“Are we a couple?”

“Huh?”

Zoro flinches and looks away. “Nevermind. It was a stupid question. Forget I asked.”

Luffy does forget, or at least that’s what it looks like. He’s very quiet for a moment, and Zoro bravely steals a look out of the corner of his eye to catch him look down at his feet. Then he mumbles, “We’re not a couple?”

“Huh?”

The captain shakes himself and faces him with a bright smile. “Shishishi. Nevermind. Zoro hasn’t finished his drink yet.” He gestures at the mostly untouched bottle.

Zoro tilts his head towards the piece of meat hanging limply in Luffy’s hand. “Right back at ‘cha. Not hungry anymore?”

“…Yeah.”

They aggressively assault each other with silence, and Zoro can feel the cuts of the attack slicing through his heart. He wants to say something, anything, to clear the air between them, to get them where he wants them to be, but… he can’t. He’s not good at it. He doesn’t know what to say or how to say it. Every time he tries to open his mouth, he chokes on his own tongue, tripping over the words that are nothing but a jumble in his mind.

He can’t talk. So he grabs Luffy’s neck instead and buries his head in the boy’s shoulder, letting the familiar scent calm the storm inside his head.

“I won’t—“ He mumbles into the captain’s shoulder, digging his fingers into flesh.

“What?”

“I said I won’t let her have you,” Zoro says clearly this time, raising his voice. “Not her, not anyone. Got that?”

Luffy hasn’t got that, or at least he doesn’t say so. Instead, he just sits there, allowing Zoro to mould rubber with his desperate grip around his shoulders, and breathes.

Then he says, “Zoro.”

Zoro grunts.

“Can we get married?”

Zoro chokes.

“What?”

Humming, Luffy explains, “I’ve been thinking for a while. I don’t know any guys that got married.”

“That’s…”

“We can’t?”

Zoro sighs and wonders how he can explain this to Luffy without having to lift his face and look at him. The angle he’s sitting in right now is awkward, but he can’t stand the thought of looking at him now, of seeing something he won’t be able to recover from. Of letting go and never being able to hold on again. Of feeling his life slip through his fingers.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Zoro says at last, sighing into Luffy’s shoulder as he lets his arm drop from around him. Raising his head, he continues, “We couldn’t in a town like everyone else does.”

“Why not?” Luffy asks, all innocence. He doesn’t even know the repercussions, the true weight of what they’re doing, because so far he’s never had a problem with it. How could he? Zoro has been careful not to let anyone notice, to keep their intimate touches for their eyes only, and to shut down any of Luffy’s attempts to get flirty in front of an audience. It was difficult at first, training Luffy to avoid certain behaviours without giving him an explanation for it, but he managed. Now he no longer tries to reach for his hand when they walk through town together. He doesn’t ask Zoro to feed him anymore when they’re eating at a restaurant. He doesn’t try to climb the swordsman’s shoulders to be carried around when they’re out exploring.

Huh. Zoro closes his eyes and lets the truth of all that set in.

Maybe they really never were a couple. Maybe he never let them be.

“It’s… complicated.” Zoro tries to figure out when exactly he started caring about what anybody thinks of him and comes up blank. He’s never been ashamed of Luffy. There’s no one louder in proclaiming his allegiance and devotion to their captain than himself. The whole world is after Luffy’s head, and the most beautiful woman in it wants him to be her husband.

He’s not ashamed of Luffy. He doesn’t care if anyone sees him with Zoro. He’s… afraid. He’s afraid that maybe Luffy will be ashamed of _him_ , that he’ll realise no one will support them, that he’ll finally understand the meaning of their relationship, and end it.

It’s irrational and it’s stupid, and even knowing all that, Zoro can’t help thinking it all the same. That’s what Luffy does to him: turn him into a helpless idiot who’s too afraid of losing him to actually have him to begin with.

“You ever seen an all-male couple before, Luffy?”

The boy tilts his head, considering hard. “Don’t think so.”

“Ever wondered why that is?”

“Not really.”

Zoro can’t help but smile. Of course not. Luffy is very selective in his thinking, after all, and mundane things like that wouldn’t even register to him.

“People aren’t really accepting of it, you know,” he explains, settling into the bench and leaning his head back against the wall. “People like us exist, but it’s not really talked about, and in most towns, bad things would happen if anybody found out. So they keep it private. That’s why you never see them in public.”

Luffy is quiet for a moment. “Is that why we can’t hold hands?”

Zoro exhales. So it _has_ been bothering him. “Yeah. And all the other stuff as well. Guess I just didn’t wanna draw attention.”

Silence again. Zoro isn’t used to that level of thought with his captain, so he doesn’t really know how to treat it. He decides to say something, mostly because sitting here like this makes him uncomfortable and he needs something to do.

“Does it bother you?”

“Dunno.” Luffy looks up at the ceiling, considering. “You don’t want us to be seen?”

He wants to deny it, reassure Luffy that that’s not true at all, that all he wanted was to keep them out of trouble, but…

“Yeah, guess so.”

“Zoro,” Luffy says, still not looking at him, and Zoro can feel a thick weight settle in his stomach, a creeping sense of dread overwhelming his senses. “Are you—“

“I’m not ashamed of you!” Zoro says loudly, too loudly for the small room they’re in. His words echo from the walls, bouncing through the space around and between them like vicious punches to the gut. “I’m not ashamed of you!” he says again, feeling his teeth clench as he tries to make the words come out. His eyes sting and he can feel his hands tremble in his lap, his heart beating so hard he can’t hear anything but the blood rushing to his head. His face feels hot. His body feels sick. He ignores all of it and presses on, “It’s you who should— who should— _Dammit!_ ”

His fist is wet, and he knows that he’s crying, but now that it’s started, he can’t stop.

Lowering his head, he tries to contain at least the worst of it by pressing his mouth shut tight, and then he feels something warm on his clenched fists.

“Zoro’s stupid.”

“Shut up.”

Luffy takes his hands and guides them around his shoulders, making them hold on tight before Luffy wraps his own arms around his torso and buries his head in Zoro’s chest.

“Zoro’s stupid.”

“You already said that.”

“Shishishi. You’re right. Sorry.”

Zoro can feel himself calm down, his body slowly responding to the familiar stimulus of having his captain safely in his arms. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’m just…”

“Zoro.”

“Yeah?”

Luffy’s arms tighten around him, and his next question makes Zoro’s heart skip a beat.

“Can I hold your hand next time?”

“…Yeah,” Zoro says, surprised to find himself meaning it from the bottom of his heart. “And…”

“And?”

“Your question earlier. We _can_ get married. Because we’re pirates.”

Luffy’s head shoots up, and the rubber boy looks at him out of wide eyes. “We can?! But you said—“

“I know what I said. We can’t get married like everyone else, but there’s this thing I heard about… Pirates do it on ships all the time. You’re the captain, you can marry anyone you like. It’s up to you.”

“I can?”

“Yeah.” Zoro smiles. “For example, if Franky ever asked Robin, you could marry them.”

“And if I want to ask Zoro?”

“If I said yes,” Zoro says, brushing a strand of black hair out of the youthful face of his captain, “you could. Yeah.”

Luffy pouts adorably and eases his grip on Zoro. “You won’t say yes?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then say yes.”

“I won’t.”

The pout grows. “Why not?!”

Zoro smiles and presses a kiss to the top of his head, mumbling into his hair, “Because I want to ask you myself.”

Luffy seems content with that answer for the time being, because he doesn’t argue again after that. He allows Zoro to spoil him for a moment, releasing all the pent up energy he has from refraining from touching Luffy at all while the Kuja Pirates have boarded the ship. They haven’t so much as brushed shoulders, and Zoro can feel the need to recharge on his captain in the stiffness of his shoulders, the extra weight he seems to be carrying inside his body.

“Are you gonna ask me now?”

Zoro smiles into Luffy’s skin. “No.” He presses a loving kiss against his neck. “Not yet.”

“Hmm… Now?”

“No.” Zoro plants another kiss.

“Now?”

“Still no.”

“How about now?”

He chuckles and withdraws enough to face Luffy, a serious expression settling over his face. “No. There’s something I need to do first.”

He doesn’t kiss Luffy in front of Hancock and flips her off, although he wants to. She doesn’t deserve that, however, and deep down he knows that. She really helped Luffy out when he couldn’t, and he’ll forever be indebted to her for that. Besides, he can’t exactly blame her for falling for that idiot, now can he? It’s not her fault Luffy turns heads and hearts wherever he goes without meaning to. She’s just another victim of Luffy’s effortless siege on people’s affections.

It’s not her fault.

In the end, he ends up treating her with distant respect and endures her stay on the Thousand Sunny with as much grace as he can. Luffy is back to understanding him wordlessly, and he refrains from touching him inappropriately in front of the Pirate Empress without having to be told. Maybe he’s not as daft as he seems sometimes.

They don’t reveal themselves to Boa and her girls, out of respect for the woman hopelessly in love with Luffy, but as soon as they’re gone, Zoro calls the Straw Hats together and announces an emergency meeting. Money exchanges hands. Nami’s eyes turn into something suspiciously resembling Beli signs. Franky can’t look at either one of them for at least a week without bursting into tears.

Zoro honestly couldn’t care less, because the next time they set anchor, Luffy jumps off the ship and he follows, and this time, he doesn’t hesitate in taking the captain’s hand first.

 

 


End file.
